Green Light Drawn by the Night's Eye
The air around them reeked of something beyond foul, clouds of what could have only been ichor that had vaporised under weapons fire or splattered across the rockcrete surfaces nearby wafted all around them. Every other foot step was followed by the sound of something slick echoing a wet slap and the crunch of loose debris under boot. Slap, crunch, slap, crunch, slap, add to this the very air seemed to be filled with residue that coated the face and left each breath feeling slick and heavy, he could see why half of his squad had donned their rebreathers, whilst the rest were making do with covering their mouths or in one case retching into a ancient gutter somewhere back down the street from the sounds behind him. Glancing over his shoulder he spotted the source of the retching in the form of the replacement, the squads comms trooper patting him on the helmet as the fung wiped flecks of vomit away from his mouth, she smirked when she spotted him looking back down the street at them both. “Nothing like fresh cooked mute to clear the lungs first thing” She chuckled as she slapped the replacement on the back as he wondered back over to join them, “Lieutenant told you to dine light” Corporal Brejik looked the replacement over; a Private Somers by his helmet plate, who had finally straightened himself up. Brejik’s wasn’t the only squad with a fresh face sitting amongst the old now he thought for a moment, most of the company had a few shinnies amongst them but beyond the usual rounds of getting the new faces settled into their squads not much had changed in real terms after the recent combat engagements. He could the hear drill marshal Vern even now 15 years later repeating the mantra he’d been pummelling into white shields for the last 40 years in his mind “A good soldier is as good as their training, we are the best because our training is the best and you will train like the best”. “Yes Corporal” the voice broke his momentary revy as Somers replied between bouts of spluttering, “Feck this smell” Somers spat a wode of flem onto the slick roadside, “Builds character” Lance-corporal Tress grinned in mischief as Kells rolled his eyes. A brief squawk of static pulsed through his head set and Tress’s Radio pack, causing her to make an adjustment to the sets control panel as Kells put one hand to his ear to listen as he nodded for Somers and Tress to get moving once again. “What’s the hold up corporal?” a stern voice clipped through his ear piece “FNG lost his breakfast Sarge, Tress was giving him a hand” He reported back, the line pulsed for a moment with static before the sergeants voice cut back “Figures, did tell him not to dine so hard, bloody fungs” “Roger that” Kells replied as the line went quiet once more. Falling in step with his squad mates Brejik glanced at the surrounding carnage with an expert eye only a member of Hive-sec would routinely possess, the wet slapping sound of boot soles passing with each step as their footfalls plunged into thin lakes of spilt corrupted blood and vicious matter. Groups of corpses lay all around in groups and small heaps, scatterings of larger mutated forms laying intermixed with smaller strains here and there, blast marks from grenades leaving scorched islands through out the scene surrounding him. Stepping over what remained of the torso of a howler Brejik felt a pang of pride took at him that let small smile crisp the edge of his features before disappearing behind his habitual scowl once more. Growing up in bastion he knew from his fellow white-shields and his various extended family members that those outside of their hierarchy and structure viewed them with suspicion a lot of the time, and disdain in some cases beyond that simply because they were still loyal to an old world ideal and order. But when all others were running, or fleeing; to what little safety they had carved out for themselves in the blasted ruined carcass of what was once humanity’s domain Brejik couldn’t help but let a laugh rise in his mind at the Irony of the fact that those that so disdained Hive-Sec’s way would come running for their protection, and expertise thanks to that old world way of thinking that they still held tight too. Letting that small kernel of truth sit stored away in his thoughts Brejik let his body fall into the rhythmic step as Somers, Tress and he formed into single column subconsciously as their ingrained training took over as they made they way further down the street to where the rest of their squad was waiting for them in the shadow of a burnt out hauler of some kind. Even the rusted out hulks of vehicles and half collapsed signs that littered the road way were coated in ichors and stain marks he noted as looked down a side junction as they past by, here and there he could make out the chips and dents where bursts of fire had impacted the ancient surface leaving it pock-marked and scarred. They had truly thrown the swarms aggression and over confidence back in the face of whatever bestial mind urged it onwards he thought as the side junction trailed away behind them as they re-joined the squad, one figure looking over at them from behind a blacked out blast visor with a trio of chevrons decorating the side of it. “Done with your sight seeing yet?” a slightly irritated voice quipped as Somers and Tress took up position in accordance with the rest of the squads firing points, “Sorry Sarge, Just being thorough with the newbie” Tress called over, a glint of mischief back in her eyes once more; “Stow it Tress” the sergeant snapped back as Brejik took up his own position at the opposite corner of the hauler’s decrepit cabin. “Right, Brejik you’ve got tail end for your due vigilance” Sergeant Mills grunted mockingly “Taylor, Besk, Huss, front spread” The three troopers flicked an affirmative and where moving off down the street without another word. “Somers, Tress, Wilson, cover and support, move” Mills made a quick hand gesture, Tress nodding for Somers to follow as they jogged on ahead following Wilson; “Fung’s not bad for a crucible grad” Mills tone lost its mocking edge as he glanced over at Brejik, the need for discipline dropping away for a moment as they fell out of ear shot of the rest of the squad. “True sarge” Brejik nodded as he watched the progress of his squad mates, “think a lot of them have been sitting on their hands too long before getting a chance in the field mind” he added. “Copy that” Mills agreed “They’ll get there, eventually” “We did, knocks and dents included” Brejik glanced over at Mills, his long suffering friend of 25 years, “Yeah, the question is will the rest of them little brother” Military Campaign Progress For every period of conflict throughout the course of human civilisation there has been periods of peace where those trained to defend their way of life find themselves caged by the mundane, thoughts of war put to one side as the course of peace works its way through the world. These periods of peace often as not come to define an era, a golden age for all from the lowest through to the heights of a people, for the soldiers though this sense of peace at first brings relief, and then slowly over time begins to eat away at those that would train every day for when the time came to make a stand alongside their brothers and sisters in arms, only for the constant calm to block them from action and slowly begin to build a feeling of frustration and wrath behind their eyes. This feeling of unease with the life of peace has driven every life willing to pick up the sword and take a step forward for those that can’t, from the very first tribesmen with their crude spears that would face the unknown of their world, fighting back to back against the creatures and forests around them; to the armies of chain clad peasants hearing the call of kingdom and cause marching through foreign fields and clashing in mud far from home, to the modern age as lines would clash through volley’s of lead in the smoke of war, and onto the coughing belch of exhaust and machine like metallic ringing of breaches slamming shut as tanks clashed over trenches packed with grim faced soldiers. Each and every one of these had steeled themselves for the war to come, only for those trained at the cusp of the bloodshed to become the new generation of guardians of the peace that would rise from the death and muck. Here these grim hearted warriors one and all would find their hands bound by the dawn of a new peace that whilst all others would set their eyes to the new calm, they would stand on the battlements awaiting for the shadow of war to once more crest the horizon and their hands to finally be let free. For the Soldiers of Hive-sec this constant sense of waiting is a near constant companion from the first time they are grouped into their white shield youth sections, and truly begin to understand their path in life. As each year passes this sense of foreshadowing creeps tighter and tighter around the subconscious and becomes in some sense a core part of each person’s identity in some subtle way as they progress from into their full training, and go on to join the levy companies and then the enforcer cadres or ranger school. Here that sense of calm becomes honed until it becomes a double edged blade for the soldiers to carry with them, knawing at them like a constant irritation but at the same time making them more alert to when a situation may turn violent at a moments notice. Passing through the crucible only further hastens this sense of foreboding as the newly christened soldiers of Hive-sec find their footing in their first assignment, the longing and years of waiting finally reaching its own crescendo as they count the days until they ultimately pass the crest before them, and pass into a new period of blood as the last generation of guardians become the new carriers of humanities fire in the darkness of war. The first days of the new season would pass by to the sound of mutant keening, weapons fire and detonations as probing thrusts from the mutant positions within the pocket established during the last weeks of the previous months. The 1st Chapter would man its new positions with temporary established emplacements spread out in the encircling perimeter to the pocket, with engineers and the combat pioneers drawn from their work assisting at the medical compound putting their skills to work in collapsing old sewer tunnels and maintenance walkways to solidify the army’s position even further as regular patrols launched probing sorties of their own into the mutant horde, testing and reporting back to 1st chapter command where and to what strength the swarm’s reactions produced. These reports in turn would see each build up and aggressive action by the swarm countered with defilades of heavy weapons fire, grenade bursts and careful methodical clearing actions, before resetting the line, and in effect ripping the swarms limb off every time it attempted to punch through. By the end of the sixth day of the first week 3 separate rushes of the army’s front line had been halted, cut down and the remnants sent packing back into the darkness to the sound of shrilling howling and screeching from the mutant packs circling just beyond the vision of the troops manning the line. The next couple of days would see a lull in ‘lash out’ attacks as the troops dubbed them, observers placed alongside sniper teams would report that the build ups of the previous assaults were dissipating and reforming in tighter smaller pockets around the edge of the swarm, packs of howlers would swirl around the legs of patriarchs whilst larger more singular organisms like Behemoths would be screened by a wave of these roving shield like groupings. Taking in this information from the various reports the 1st chapters commanders would call a ops meeting shortly into the morning of the fourth day of the second week, the various company officers, battalion commanders and recon leads assembled in the main command hub tent each listening and making their own notes as the swarms activities were highlighted, analysed and dissected over the course of the next few hours until a general consensus was drawn together. Come the end of the meeting a ground plan would be laid out with the officers present each leaving with their assigned tasks, the 1st chapter finally freed of the bonds of peace stretching its collective might as it prepared to not simply defend as it had done, but go on the assault. The rest of the week and the majority of the third would see constant flow of action through the army as units began to rotate through the frontline positions as they prepped and practiced for the coming assault, enforcer squads pulling scrap metal from nearby buildings to build so called ’kill houses’ that they would storm time and again in mock clearance drills, all whilst rangers teams honed their edge picking off key mutants in the swarm itself as they prepared the frontline, whilst other teams prepped infiltration routes and identified key assault objectives to control the flow of battle. Levy companies would go through their own drills as they practiced in synch herding other forces into prepared kill zones to be destroyed piece meal, or isolating targets to allow enforcer cadres and ranger teams to decapitate command and control creatures, all to destabilise the swarms gestalt consciousness as they carved their way into the heart of the beasts belly and aimed for its heart. Come the dawn of the third day of the final week of the month the 1st chapter would steadily deploy into their pre-assault positions, as entire platoons of enforcers with attached rangers grouped up behind key points in the line as they went over the plan for the final time. The first few seconds of the second month of the season would be met with utter silence, to only be broken by a cacophony of sound, light and detonations as the 1st chapter as one let loose with all their rage, wrath and training in the very opening moments of their assault on the swarm. Entire packs of lesser mutants would be wiped out as the swarm coiled back from the initial assault in the first hour of the attack, its single unified conscience reeling momentarily from the influx of senses and information as the swarm writhed and twisted in on itself as the mutant horde turned to face what it had first seen as prey only a few months before hand. For the companies of levy troopers, enforcer platoons and ranger teams the assault would follow a methodical cleansing of the ruins as they pressed into the swarms bulk that by nightfall of the first day would see a good number of miles reclaimed with only heaped piles of mutant corpses left behind the steady advance of the 1st chapter. This scene would repeat itself time and again for the next few days as the soldiers of Hive-Sec cut, blasted and burned their way through the packs that were thrown at them in close quarters brutal firefights, the swarm loosing its aggression in all directions. For other forces from the various cultures of the ruins this might have given their leaders pause for thought but this was the exact response that Hive-sec had counted upon. Years of combatting the mutants had given them a pool of knowledge to pull from when they devised their plan of attack and now that information came into play with devastating effect as the army began to eat up the miles of territory ripped from the swarms clutches. Come the close of the first week the 1st chapter would be a good third of the way further on to ejecting the mutant swarm from the territory proper as it remarshalled itself for the next phase. The next week or so would see a repeat of what had come before as the 1st chapter pushed further onwards, however this time with a more careful step as ingrained training began to kick, Hive-Sec wisdom held that shock assaults on swarms should be follow the withdrawal of swarm waves to throw off the tempo, and take the initiative to fight the swarm on their own terms. The counter balance to this was that usually within 72 to 96 hours of assault operations completing their phase one objectives a swarm will begin its own counter attack, with this timing being affected usually by the size and aptitude of the swarm being face. In this case the time feel just after the 72 hour mark timing wise, accordingly on the third day of the second week the swarm slammed into the lines of enforcers, rangers and levy companies with all the ferocity it had previously shown, except this time in the place of the living waves of chitin and irradiated blood that had first assaulted the 1st chapters position hardened packs of creatures advanced behind screens of more expendable abominations as they charged into the gun lines arrayed before them. The fighting itself would initially hit every position in a wide arc of screaming mutation meeting disciplined weapons fire and well coordinated counter assaults formed behind bulwarks formed by grim faced enforcers. For several hours the swarm would slam its full bulk against the encircling 1st chapter before pulling back and rebuilding its forces to attempt again with yet another wave. By the end of the week however this ’slashing’ assaults had become far more pointed and determined as the swarm reshaped itself once more into 3 distinct bards that attempted to grind its way through what the swarm perceived as the weakest points of the 1st chapters positions whilst other packs of roving creatures would launch opportunistic attacks across the line. The third week of the second month would pass to the sound of near constant combat up and down the line as disciplined wrought iron determination met unbridled ferocity and insanity, by the eve of the fifth day this contest of endurance would leave one of the swarms ’barbs’ in tatters as it attempted to drive a wedge between 3 of the levy companies covering the northern flank, swarming the positions with lesser packs the swarm that would worm their way into gaps and begin to claw them wide until the more shielded groups of larger creatures could push into the breach. In this case the levy companies would withdraw into formations ancient officers from the days of black powder antiquity would recognise as mutually supporting squares, allowing the levy troopers to continuously pour fire into the swarm packs as they attempt to overrun them. In the old days this assault of ’cavalry’ would be countered by reinforcing infantry or counter cavalry when black powder was king, what Hive-Sec had was cadres of enforcer heavy infantry waiting in response that cut into the left and right of the barbed assault, cutting if from its living carpet of reinforcement as the levy companies began to push out, link up and retake their positions as their own reinforcements quickly wiped out any mutants that were now milling about confused and separated from the horde. Come the eve of the final day of the second month and the dawn of the third the two remaining bard’s of the swarm would show themselves in force as the gestalt conscience of the swarm attempted to pierce through the ring of steel that was the 1st chapter. The fighting in these cases would last far longer however as the swarm deployed a number of lesser seen but far more dangerous strains into the fight during the night, as the waves of mutants would crash into the hive-sec lines rather than leaving its flanks exposed this time the swarm would guard them with creatures far more at home in the dark. Reports begin to filter back from the lines of stalkers being spotted harassing forward positions prior to the first true night assault by one barb, with the same being repeated by the other as the swarm attempted to split the forces of the 1st chapter, its brutal aggression distilled into a tipped blade rather than the crude lashes it had been. Two weeks of hard fighting would see the first barb held in check as ranger sniper teams were deployed along the line to put down stalkers where ever they appeared, delaying and destabilising harassment swarms before they could be led into the hive-sec lines, whilst enforcer squads would reinforce positions determined to correspond to any build ups dedicated by seismic teams behind the lines. The second barb would fair far better however, swamping the lines in the south initially the assault would seem to follow the patterns previously experienced as it attempted to push into the hive-sec positions, but at the sound to a loud keening call the swarm at the last moment slammed into the units either side and caught one company in the midst of a rotation out of the line. The ensuing fight boiled down to individual fire teams and soldiers attempting to group up and form some line of resistance as the mutant packs tore into them and left any form of command and control in tatters, corporals and in some cases privates had to grab who they could and find someway of holding their ground. Here and there small bands of soldiers would manage to clamber their way onto piles of debris or rusted out vehicles and stand as small isolated islands against the onrushing tide of chitin, pouring fire and hurling grenades into the masses of mutants until they were down to bayonets and side arms. Units to the east and west would begin to redeploy to attempt to cut into the flanks of the mutants, only to be repulsed time and again by the identified ’shield’ packs the swarm had produced. In the midst of this there was a true possibility for a moment of the mutants managing to punch through the hive-sec lines through sheer bloody aggression. In all this a single signal reaches 1st chapter command from an sniper team engaging the swarms, “Charlie One, Priority Alpha Zero Zero Tango identified”, in amongst the chaos the swarm’s heart had come to feast on the carnage, a full blooded siren had shown itself directing the barb’s assault. Scrambling to immediately clear the sniper team to take the shot the command tents radios are filled with a static pulse that whites out the radio net for a moment as the sniper team’s voice is over-written by screaming interference. Just as quickly though it clears, the sniper team that had been asking for confirmation suddenly calling in something else entirely. A high powered sniper shot from a building to the directly south of them had echoed out with some kind of accompanying pulse from their observation, the round evaporating the siren’s head, shoulders and upper torso in a shower of ichor and cauterised blood. The swarms of mutants within a few moments had been turned from the seething carpet of talons and blood into a confused mass just milling around, the companies being held off finding their way clear as they pushed forward to relieve the remnants of the company that had come so close to be overrun and wiped out. Capitalising on the situation the 1st chapter would close the gap and clear the remaining packs from the area, the swarm itself over the remaining weeks of the final month of the season seemingly reeling from the loss of the siren. As this was happening a series of teams of rangers were pulled from the lines to investigate the position of the unknown sniper shot, winding their way through the abandoned tower of what had once been a public parking lot of some sort they found very little until they reached the top of the stair case on the 9th floor, a single carefully placed depleted rail tech power pack was found sat on the lip of a busted window facing out to where the siren had been taken out with nothing but the faint smell of ozone wafting through the air... Summary: Following onto the initial assault by the mutant swarm in the previous season the tide of mutants has once more attempted to wash over the 1st chapter and their positions in the primus grade medical territory secured nearly six months ago, only to be thrown back once again by the soldiers of hive-sec, though with a genuinely close call potentially averted by an unknown force. With this latest defeat however the swarm has been thrown back to the very eastern tunnels they emerged from and have lost an beach head it had into the territory leaving it under 100% hive-sec control. Casualties stand currently at 118 hive-sec personnel lost for a further 479 mutants slain. (Note: Standing strength of the 1st chapter now at 1777/2000, Swarm strength calculated at 2106/3000) The enemies of my enemy... With the successful defence of the medical facility to the south west of hass east circle command has already begun to see the supplies recovered from the facility be delivered into the hands of the Apothecary and the hive-sec medical corp, alongside further a field task forces spread across the ruins of the hive. On top of this in conjunction with the operation FOB shroud has provide a solid supply route for a combined research initiative that is being championed by the logos captain and apothecary in one of their rare moments of cooperation when they aims coincide with one another. Accordingly circle command has begun to draw up plans of its own for a concerted effort to put this new found avenue of investigation to use In the coming days ahead, whilst this has been happening the reports coming back in from task force dominus have added further to the picture already painted of the situation in the dome, the shadow captain says little beyond a shared looked with the huntsmaster as he remains highly sceptical of the seemingly ’peaceful’ existence between the factions. Aside from this the logos captains seethes at the loss of the data core task force dominus had been sent to recover to the opportunistic scavengers that seem to infest everywhere within the ruins, but his annoyance is mollified by the interest in the apparent information the ’wrath’ construct seems to have on the operating systems of the sentinel defence units and its ability to block their deployment as noted by Corporal Lewis’s field report. At the very least it’s decided they have gained something in terms of an initial assessment of its abilities in the short term whilst they hunt down the missing data core in the long term, with this the Logos captain invites as the shadow captains opinion as he reads over the report. Making a note he dispatches a message for transmission before getting up a leaving with but a few curt words, “If the snake wants to a play a game then lets send our own”. Summary: 1) With the discovery of the data core having already been sold on the logos captain has taken a keen interest in its recovery due to their fascination with the ‘wrath’ AI construct, in a rare moment they have petitioned the Shadow captain to lend task force Dominus aide in tracking it down. As such some time during Friday night Dominus should expect arrival’s in camp from callsign “Black Shroud one Actual” Back to Downtimes